I've heard the sentence 这毛衣, (so without measure word), but my chinese manual always use a measure word after 这:
这件毛衣
这件苹果
Is the measure word optionnal in after 这 ?
2 Answers
In Mandarin, especially Northern China dialects, measure words can be omitted when
- It is following a demonstrative pronoun (e.g. 这, 那), AND
- The numeral is 1 (one), AND
- It is not a collective measure word （e.g. 些, 群).
The grammatical role of the phrase does not change. E.g.
这一件毛衣 = 这件毛衣 = 这毛衣
这一些毛衣 = 这些毛衣 collective measure word 些 cannot be omitted.
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I have heard of 这个苹果 and 这粒苹果, but never encounter 这只苹果 when referring to an apple. Is it also part of Northern dialects?– 杨以轩Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 2:55
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@QuestionOverflow no it's not. Actually I heard this usage from people from the south. Searching 一只苹果 online there are some hits suggesting the usage does exist though may not be correct.– NS.X.Commented Jan 9, 2013 at 7:27
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@QuestionOverflow As a native speaker from South China, I'd like to say I've never heard of "这粒苹果", 粒 refers to something very small(a pill, a grain of rice, etc) in general.– HuangCommented Jan 9, 2013 at 16:14
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@NS.X. Actually, you can use 这件苹果 in real life where 件 means "a box or package", so 这件苹果 means “this box of apples". Can you update your answer?– HuangCommented Jan 9, 2013 at 16:16
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1@EnricoBrasil No it's actually less formal without measure word.– NS.X.Commented Mar 23, 2018 at 3:35
“这毛衣” works, but it means "this sweater"; while "这件毛衣” means "this /measurement word in English for 件/ of sweater"; they are different grammatically. Just like: these shoes Vs. this pair of shoes
件is a Unit/classifier/量詞. Sometimes it is optional, sometimes not. I have a small section about that in my other answer here.件there.件is just like in English, where you saya glass of water,a loaf of bread. You can not just sayI want a waterorI ate a bread, right? Same in Chinese. Sometimes you need件/個/條, but sometimes you don't.